Brawl

Continuity:

Alternate Name:

Affiliation:

Function:

Loudmouthed Artillery Gunner

Alternate Mode:

M1 Abrams Tank

Weapons:

Missile Launchers Tank Canon Machine Gun

Strength:

10

Intelligence:

4

Speed:

3

Endurance:

10

Rank:

6

Courage:

10

Fireblast:

9

Skill:

5

Total:

57

Brawl or sometimes referred to as Devastator is the weapon specialist of the Decepticons (obvious, since he's a tank). He's a warrior. That's kind of like calling Cybertron a hunk of metal (which it kind of is). Brawl does not just enjoy fighting, he is consumed by it. Tearing Autobots apart is embedded into his very core, and every fiber-optic cable of his being is obsessed with wild, unyielding combat. The only thing he enjoys, or even cares about, is the fury of battle. And he loves a good explosion. Particularly if it's one he created, and if it was an Autobot that is exploding.

Contents

Fiction

Titan Magazines

Brawl (here named "Devastator") was known as Megatron's "pet weapon of mass destruction". He follows a single guiding principle - "keep it stupid... simple!"

Megatron threw him at the Autobots so he could reach the All Spark, and had armed him with a foldspace warhead. When the Autobots pointed out that at this range, the warhead would take him out as well, he replied "Eh. So?" and fired anyway. He loves a good explosion that much. Transformers Comic issue 2

Brawl ended up warped to an uninhabited world covered with cities, and out of sheer boredom went around smashing a lot of it before he realized he should try getting off the planet. The mysterious Flame, a power source that drove the planet's inhabitants to murder, tried to influence his mind towards rampaging until his fuel ran out; as he got nearer to it, it created apparitions of the other Decepticons that taunted him for his stupidity and attacked him. This failed to influence him as it would require Brawl to have introspection and care about being stupid - instead, he simply carried on to the Flame and left the planet, showing no interest in anything beyond doing his job. Transformers Comic issue 4

A mere half-hour after Megatron's death and before his body was dumped in the sea, Brawl was resurrected by Starscream as a mindless zombie, a soulless monster that would only destroy. It's what he would've wanted. Transformers Comic issue 7

Transformers Movie Prequel (Target)

Brawl in the comics

While Starscream's forces assaulted the Autobots at Tyger Pax, Brawl bashed his way past faltering Autobot defenders, bringing news that Megatron knew where the All Spark was. When Starscream excitedly declared that he must go to the cube, Brawl questioned his loyalty, prompting Bonecrusher to threaten the latter with violence lest he not take the group to Megatron. After witnessing Megatron leave Cybertron to chase after the escaping All Spark, the Decepticons followed.

Crash-landing on Earth many years later, the Decepticons were detected by a nearby US air base, which sent an armored personnel carrier to investigate. Brawl took the words right out of Bonecrusher's mouth, remarking that at last there was something to kill. Wreckage assumed the form of the carrier vehicle, destroyed it, then led Starscream's unit to the base. Brawl trans-scanned a nearby human tank and joined the others in leveling the base. Planetfall

Note:In the panel where the Decepticons react to the arrival of the armored personnel carrier, it is likely that Bonecrusher's speech bubble regarding the military base was actually meant for Wreckage (as the latter was the one who tracked the base location), and that Brawl was incorrectly given Bonecrusher's own speech bubble about killing things.

Ghosts of Yesterday novel

Brawl was oddly absent from events surrounding the Ghost 1 discovery. Whether he was aboard the Nemesis and otherwise indisposed or joined up with Starscream at a later date is unknown.

Transformers film

Brawl (also named "Devastator" here) was lying in wait at a military depot when Starscream contacted the Decepticon infiltration team, informing them that the All Spark had been found and they were to move out. Brawl acknowledged that he was in transit and rolled out of the depot. He met up with Barricade and Bonecrusher and hit the highway, though Brawl separated from the group before Barricade and Bonecrusher got on the freeway and met up with Autobot/human convoy. Apparently none of the humans at the base thought it strange that the extensively modified tank was running off without clearence... or a crew.

Arriving at Mission City in the aftermath of Starscream's opening attack on the Autobots and their humanallies, Brawl fired shells from his main gun, narrowly missing several targets before running over vehicles abandoned by human bystanders. As the American soldiers fanned out in search of cover, the Autobots charged Brawl. He focused his attacks on Ironhide, who was forced to somersault over his shells. This distraction allowed the Autobot Jazz to jump on top of Brawl and point his cannon away from the humans. Realizing the Autobot was too good, Brawl managed to transform and throw the smaller Autobot off him, but not before Jazz destroyed his left side rocket launcher pod, injuring the Decepticon.

Brawl is K.Oed.

Damaged, but not down, Brawl fired two rockets at Ironhide from his remaining launcher, missing the heavily armed Autobot as he somersaulted over the missiles. Ironhide and Jazz managed to fire several shots at Brawl, disorienting him. Ratchet followed up by using his buzzsaw to slice off Brawl's left arm. The humans then fired a volley of sabot rounds while Ratchet supported with suppressive fire, knocking Brawl to the ground and seemingly killing him.

Brawl firing his machine gun.

The only thing that saved him was the Autobots and humans' retreat at the arrival of Megatron. Eventually, Ironhide and Ratchet disengaged from the battle as they left to protect ladiesman217, who was escaping with the All Spark, while Jazz took on Megatron. Now with fewer targets to deal with, Brawl, weakened but still alive, got back to his feet and sprayed heavy machine gun fire at the remaining humans, whose leader remarked that the battle was not going well.

Brawl is killed by Bumblebee's blaster bolt.

Brawl continued to pin down the soldiers until the damaged Autobot Bumblebee suddenly attacked while on the back of of a tow truck driven by Sam's female companion. Devastator tried to return fire, only for his machine gun, his last ranged weapon, to be destroyed by Bumblebee's plasma cannon. With the Autobot's return to battle being the deciding factor, the human soldiers rallied and fired more sabots, piercing Devastator's armor until a final shot from Bumblebee struck Brawl's spark and killed him. Brawl died as he lived: destroying things, for his chassis crashed into the building the human soldiers had taken refuge in.

Brawl's body was dumped into the deepest part of the ocean along with his fellow Decepticons, in the hopes the intense pressure and cold will destroy whatever remained. Transformers (film)

Transformers: The Game (console)

Autobot campaign

Brawl, as he appears in the video game.

Brawl arrived in Mission City shortly after Jazz took down Starscream, Blackout and a pair of Dreadwings single-handedly. Brawl saw just as Starscream's spark was extinguished (Blackout was already dead at that point). He made sure the Autobot's victory was short-lived... and so was Jazz, as Brawl punctured his chest with his claw, extinguishing his spark.

Ironhide arrived just in time to witness the killing. "Jazz! NO!!!" he cried as Brawl killed his friend. Brawl commented as he threw Jazz's body aside, "I love it when you Autobots die." "Your death will be slow," swore Ironhide, who then fought through a horde of Decepticon units to fight and destroy Brawl.

Decepticon campaign

Brawl in his tank form in the game.

Brawl, his comrade, Bonecrusher, and Starscream were hiding out in a human military installation in the desert when they received word that Frenzy and Barricade had discovered the location of the AllSpark. When the three Decepticons mobilized, the two ground-based machines were assaulted by tanks designed to fire holding beams of electrical energy, forcing Starscream to back-and-forth babysit the two Decepticons as they tried to escape.

Brawl later stood by Megatron's side in Washington D.C. after they had retrieved the All Spark from the destroyed Autobots and had decimated pretty much everything in their path.

Note:Brawl was not a playable character in the console versions of the game. He was only playable in the DS Decepticons version.

Transformers: Autobots

As Optimus Prime attempted to rendezvous with the other Autobots near Hoover Dam, Brawl blocked his only path — a hidden Air Force hangar tunneled into the canyon. He fought Prime with all his might, but the Autobot leader was too much for him. As Sector 7 tanks arrived, he converted to his vehicle mode, managing to con the tanks into his own reinforcements. In his tank mode, Prime could no longer damage him as much and had to resort to smashing the tanks into Brawl to damage him. In the end, Prime put him out of commission.

Transformers: Decepticons

Brawl first appears in Qatar, where, under the command of a Create-A-Bot, he is commanded to prevent a convoy from entering a nearby village (recognizable by moviegoers as the town where Lennox fought Scorponok) to prevent the humans from getting an upper hand over the N.B.E.s. At the Hoover Dam, he is sent to capture a human tank, which he retrieves intact so as to interrogate the occupant human. Once the interrogation is done, the tank doesn't stay intact long, as he can be seen merrily destroying it while Create-A-Bot converses with Barricade. Later, he faces off against Ironhide in a 1-on-1 street brawl involving an apparent grudge over a past encounter.

Note:It should be noted that Brawl and Megatron are the only Decepticons to survive this game.

Deep Desert Brawl toy bio

In the final battle Brawl was not killed, but saturated with power from the All Spark and freed from the influence of Megatron. He disappeared into the rugged land around the Hoover Dam. Making his way over the course of months to the most troubled spot on Earth (presumably the Middle East), he adapted his vehicle mode to the new environment, went to ground and waited. Brawl now gains up energy from the blazing sun, and emerges only to satisfy his hunger for destruction by attacking and annihilating human convoys and armored columns. To those living in the region, he has become a myth, but to those few who survive his attacks he is an all too real monster.

Note:Like many of the toy bios set after the events of the movie, it is unknown if this will affect the sequels.

Toys

Transformers (2007)

Decepticon Brawl (Deluxe Class, 2007)

Japanese ID number:MD-03

Accessories: Missile

Deluxe-class Brawl transforms into a heavily modified fictional tank loosely based upon an M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, fitted with angular reflective armor, a mine plow and external spare fuel canisters. Mounted upon the turret is a smaller sub-turret housing two anti-aircraft cannons and rocket launchers. The spring-loaded main cannon fires a translucent red projectile.

During transformation to robot mode, automorphing pushes down on the front of his tank during transformation raises the front of the treads and his head up into position for his robot mode, and vice versa for the tank mode. He is armed with his spring-loaded main gun on his right arm and a flip-out blade on his left.

There is a design flaw in the way Brawl's arms attach to his torso - the rhombic peg and socket system used does not provide a tight enough fit, and thus the arms have a tendency to detach at the shoulder when moved. There have also been quite a few reports of the teeny-tiny automorph gears - molded out of fragile translucent plastic - cracking and breaking into pieces, leaving the automorph non-functional.

Deluxe three-pack (Multi-pack, 2007)

This CostCo exclusive three-pack contains an unchanged Deluxe Class Decepticon Brawl together with equally unchanged Deluxe Class Bonecrusher and Autobot Jazz toys. It also comes with a nifty poster depicting all three toys in a standoff scene. Not so nifty is that the box accidentally places Brawl and Bonecrusher's bios underneath each other.

Deluxe three-pack (Multi-pack, UK 2007)

This three-pack, which was available at general retail in the United Kingdom, contains an unchanged Deluxe Class Decepticon Brawl together with equally unchanged Deluxe Class Protoform Optimus Prime and Autobot Jazz toys.

Double Missile Decepticon Brawl (Fast Action Battler, 2007)

Accessories: 2 missiles

"Double Missile Brawl" is a simplified version of Brawl. Designed for younger children, his transformation is designed with speedy conversion in mind, with relatively few steps compared to the Deluxe class Brawl. Additionally, in an effort to keep the design sturdy for play and safety, he has relatively low articulation for a figure of his size, while the design style of the figure is more rounded and 'friendly'. Two pull-back-and-release missiles are fired from his two missile pods.

Ultimate Bumblebee Bonus Value pack (Multi-pack, 2007)

A Wal-Mart exclusive special pack of Ultimate Bumblebee with Deluxe Class Decepticon Brawl and Scorponok as bonus figures. None of the three toys are changed from their respective original releases.

Decepticon Brawl (Cyber Slammer, 2007)

"I love a good fight!"

Cyber Slammers Brawl is an amazingly cute tank that transforms into an amazingly cute sentient machine of mass destruction. "Slam" his robot mode down into tank mode and he rolls along, slowly transforming back up into robot mode. Like most Cyber Slammers, Brawl manages to cram most of his vehicle mode's major details into a compact, super-deformed version of that mode.

Decepticon Brawl (Leader Class, 2007)

99% Weapons, 1% Brawl parts

The larger, more heavily armed version of Brawl, this figure is more accurate to the character's CGI model, with more articulation and weapons than the Deluxe-class figure.

While having no firing missiles, it does feature a number of Automorph gimmicks. First, pressing the button on the front of the tank causes his head and chest pieces to move into position. A scoop/claw has been added to the front of the tank, probably to make the lever to push his head back down stand out less. Second, pressing the headlights on either side of the front end causes the paneling to swing back into place. Finally, Brawl has automorph weapons on each of his forearms - his right arm has a quadruple-barreled cannon that extended as you slide a switch forward, while his left features a swing-out claw, deployed by pulling back the arm's cannon.

Other features include lights and sounds, activated by pushing back on the main cannon or turning the upper turret. The turret sounds can also be activated by pressing the two small buttons on the top of the turret, on either side of the machine gun. A pair of blades can also swing down from the legs. Also, in humanoid mode, Brawl's main turret is posed on his right side, just like Armada Megatron. His head is also laughably small.

Possibly due to safety reasons or just the desire on the part of the designers to not see fragile parts break, the main cannon and anti-aircraft guns on Brawl's turrets detach from their mounting points rather easily. (It is unbearably annoying.)

Released as part of the AllSpark Battles line refresh alongside a repainted Ratchet in his Rescue Ratchet colors, this Legends class two-pack contains Brawl who transforms into a tiny tank and features limited articulation.

All Spark-Enhanced Decepticon Brawl (Target Exclusive Deluxe, 2007)

This Target exclusive features the Deluxe Class Brawl in unique cylindrical packaging, with the only difference from his standard release being that key robot mode parts are highlighted by the slavish 'All Spark Blue' color for no other reason than to sell toys.

An extensive redeco of Leader Class Brawl in desert colors, as part of the AllSpark Power refresh of the movie toyline. His vehicle mode comes with battle damage carbon scoring as well as Autobot "kill" markings. His clear plastic parts are cast in bright translucent blue, along with the bright blue paint seen on his robot mode, a color accent he has in common with the rest of the AllSpark Power toys.

Deep Desert Brawl (Deluxe, 2009)

He finally comes full circle with a redeco of the deluxe figure, in the colors of the above mentioned Leader Class figure. His arm problem has been fixed.

Merchandise

Decepticon Brawl ( 3-inch Robot Masters, 2007)

Am I cool, or WHAT?!!

Titanium Series Brawl is a die-cast metal and plastic figurine, with an accurate sculpt based on the CG model (or the concept designs) owing to the fact he doesn't need to transform. Being a figurine, he only has articulation in his shoulders and waist. Brawl comes with a Movie-style Decepticon symbol display stand.

Brawl (3D Battle-Card, 2007)

Card number: 17

Brawl is a 41-point "Rare" piece in the 3D Battle-Card Game. Constructed of punch-out pieces from plastic cards, he can be assembled into his tank mode, or a sort of representation of his robot mode. Oddly enough, he does not actually have his movie-model head; rather, he uses a recolored version of Barricade's noggin slapped on the Brawl body.

Part of the second wave of Movie-assortment Robot Heroes, this adorable, super-deformed soft-plastic PVC of Brawl came in a two-pack with "Protoform" Jazz. He has swivel joints at the neck and shoulders.

Notes

Brawl in tank form, making his Devastator title

Brawl

Working names for Brawl were Demolisher.[1] and "Devastator", the latter of which had also been a working name for Blackout at one point.[2] Even though Michael Bay confirmed in May of 2006 that "Devastator" was not the final name[3], screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman confirmed the final name to be "Brawl" in April 2006[4], and Hasbro used that name for all their toys based on the movie character, he identifies himself as "Devastator" in a subtitle in the movie itself (even though the garbled audio used for his voice sounds an awful lot as if he says "Brawl, reporting"). According to a fan who attended the Australian press conference, Bay had confirmed that he had decided to use that name "Devastator" because he had preferred it[5], while Hasbro considered the name in the movie a "continuity error"[6], and Orci even claimed that he and Kurtzman had pointed out said "error" in the editing room twice.[7] Despite rumors to the contrary, he is not credited in the film under either name.

The name "Brawl" was previously also a working name for the character ultimately called Barricade.[8]

According to Picture Vehicle Coordinator Steve Mann, the filming prop of Brawl was a redress of a tank prop made for another movie. [9] Specifically, it was the "stealth tank" seen in the film xXx: State of the Union.

Jazz' move of racing-transforming-boarding Brawl is not completely unlike the scene in The Transformers: The Movie where Kup does the same thing with Blitzwing. The DVD's special features confirm this was the inspiration.

Brawl is the most heavily armed Transformer in the movie, followed by Blackout. Unfortunately for him, he has no chance to unleash his full armament, as many of his weapons are broken before he can use them. For example, Jazz kicks off the four-tube missile launcher on his left shoulder, and Ratchet slices off his left arm at the elbow, blades and all. Don't you just hate wasted potential?

On a Hasbro game where one chooses his personality, when he gets Brawl, it shows a Bonecrusher video. Oopsie! Bonecrusher hates it when others use his footage.